Apple's Siri voice assistant has been gradually improved by Apple in its two-and-a-bit year lifespan, but it's fair to say that there's plenty of scope for further enhancements. At present, Siri is very one-dimensional, and can only perform tasks or actions based upon a limited field as predetermined by Apple. We expect this to change at some point in the future, but if you don't wish to wait for the Cupertino to broaden Siri's horizons, then you might be interested in GoogolPlex, the brainchild of four University of Pennsylvania students that does exactly that.
Apple is often listed as one of the main companies behind the surge of the digital music economy in the last decade. The introduction of the iTunes music store almost single handedly crafted a digital marketplace, putting music in front of consumers around the world and making it extremely easy for them to get the latest artist releases. As music sales and downloads begin to slow down across the industry, Apple is reportedly looking for ways to go swim against the tide by bolstering its own music offerings, which could see the fruit company partnering with Shazam Entertainment to offer a song and artist recognition service natively via Siri within iOS.
Hyundai already confirmed its intention to begin rolling out CarPlay-enabled cars after striking a deal with Apple, and today, the Seoul, South Korea-based company has officially announced that the 2015 Sonata - releasing this summer - will be the very first beneficiary of Apple's in-car variant of iOS.
A new case leak - perhaps the clearest we've seen so far - offers yet another insight into the shape of the so-called iPhone 6, and as well as giving us a glimpse of the rounded design traits, it also shows that the power button could move from the top to the left-hand side of the device.
The tech community had collectively declared the iPhone 5c as being a flop, but given the increased attention that Apple seems to be paying to its lower-end, polycarbonate-clad handset, the reality of the situation appears to be quite the opposite. A short while back, the Cupertino company began rolling out an even cheaper, 8GB version of its smartphone line-up's second-in-command, and today, the handset has begun retailing in a further six nations.
Chinese case and accessory makers are always a mile ahead when it comes to making accessories for unannounced hardware, and like every year, things aren’t so different this time either, with an electronics fair being held in Hong Kong that showcases mockups of Apple’s next flagship smartphone along with its yet-to-be released accessories.
A couple of new leaks have emerged today that may once again offer clues as to what we should expect of the so-called iPhone 6. Given that the model packing a 5.5-inch display has been hit by delays, we're anticipating that Apple will deliver a new handset with a 4.7-inch panel around September time, and an interesting apparent leak of the device's front panel seems to back this notion up.
The probability of the next-gen iPhone sporting a 4.7-inch display seems to increase with each new discovery, and today, a mold of what its alleged to be the iPhone 6 only underlines this ongoing belief. Given that a further, 5.5-inch version of the next Apple smartphone seems beset by delays and other issues, the focus of the spotlight is now almost squarely upon the smaller handset sporting a 4.7-inch panel, and although it's hard to glean much by way of specifics from today's new leak, the depicted mold appears as though it could facilitate a display of roughly this size.
It's an accepted fact that Apple changed the face of the smartphone industry with the introduction of the iPhone back in 2007, and even though it has only been seven years, it feels as though we've always been tapping home screen icons and gesturing our way through interfaces. Not only did the iPhone completely turn the market on its head, but Google's in-development Android interface - which didn't, at the time of the Apple smartphone's announcement, support touch input - also had to be completely re-thought.
Early on last month, Apple announced CarPlay, the final, official branding of the 'iOS in the Car' feature first announced last year. With the necessary software having been rolled out to iPhones via the iOS 7.1 update, we're now awaiting the release of the first fleet of CarPlay-ready production automobiles, but while the likes of Mercedes and Volvo plan on integrating the feature as a part of the manufacturing process, specialist audio company Alpine is reportedly plotting its very own aftermarket console effort.
